Physio First launches quality assurance scheme for private practices

The ‘quality assured clinic’ scheme has been developed by Physio First, the trade association for chartered physiotherapists in private practice, and the University of Brighton.

Pam Simpson, chair of Physio First, said: ‘Until now there has been no way to enable a whole clinic to measure and improve quality.

‘These practices are achieving quality standards across the whole clinic, but could not be recognised accordingly. They can now.’

To become a quality assured clinic, all the musculoskeletal physiotherapists at the practice must be Physio First members who are inputting patient data using the association’s data input tool.

The clinic will then be assessed against criteria defined by Physio First. In addition, the University of Brighton will be collecting validated patient reported outcome measures about the practice.

The new scheme follows Physio First’s launch of its quality assured practitioner scheme. For the past 18 months, this has enabled individual private physiotherapists to demonstrate their value. So far, more than 100 Physio First members have been recognised in this way.